Desert camp in the Agafay near Marrakesh in the winter evening light: four cream-colored tents stand in a row on a scree hill, behind them the ochre-colored ridges of the Agafay, on the horizon the snow-capped peaks of the High Atlas under a blue sky
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Agafay Desert: excursion, dinner & camps from Marrakesh

The Désert d’Agafay stone desert is located just under an hour outside Marrakesh in a south-west­erly direc­tion with a view of the High Atlas. Even if it does­n’t have the impres­sive sand dunes of the Ergs south of the Atlas, the waste­land with its view of the often snow-covered moun­tains is well worth a visit.

An overnight stay in one of the camps is a special expe­ri­ence, but a sunset dinner followed by a return to Marrakesh is also highly recommended.

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If you are spend­ing more than 3 days in Marrakesh and have not planned a round trip to the sand deserts in the south of Morocco, you should defi­nitely plan an day-trip here. 

You can get a good overview of the offers in advance from GetYourGuide: Sunset in the Agafay Desert*.

If you are also visit­ing the sand desert on your trip, perhaps a balloon ride would be a nice addi­tion to your stay in Marrakesh.

In our blog arti­cle about the best day trips from Marrakesh you can find even more infor­ma­tion about activ­i­ties in the area.

Marrakesh is also chang­ing — and we are keep­ing this arti­cle up to date for you. Last revised in April 2026. 

Profilbild Svenja Keller

Meet the author:
Svenja Keller is a german archi­tect from the Black Forest and has been running the Riad Selouane in the medina of Marrakesh since 2019.

Content 
  1. Agafay Stone Desert Info
  2. Agafay Desert: Dinner at sunset
  3. Day trips
  4. Explore the Agafay Desert on your own
  5. Overnight stay under the starry sky of Agafay
  6. Direc­tions to the camp
  7. Agafay desert camps: What to expect at camp
  8. Activ­i­ties in the desert camps
  9. Photog­ra­phy in the Agafay Desert: light, motifs and the best time of day
  10. Food, drink and evening entertainment
  11. Return to the city
  12. Frequently asked ques­tions about the Agafay Desert

Impor­tant to know:

Distance from Marrakesh approx. 30 km 

45–60 minutes travel time

Costs for an excur­sion: 20–30€ (basic), 50€+ (luxury)

Best time to visit: Spring/Autumn

One of the most popu­lar excur­sions from Marrakesh: Quad biking, camel rides, dinner under the stars in the stone desert

Agafay Stone Desert Info

The Agafay is not a desert in the clas­sic sense, but geolog­i­cally a so-called reg. This term is derived from the Arabic and describes a scree desert that consists neither of sand nor coarse pebbles, but is formed when the wind carries away the fine sand parti­cles and leaves only the coarser scree behind. A well-known exam­ple of a reg is the Gobi Desert. 

For nomadic Berber tribes, the Agafay was not an empty space, but graz­ing land: after the winter rains, when grass sprouts on the barren ground for a short time, they drove their herds of goats and sheep here. 

The Agafay stretches over around 150,000 hectares at an alti­tude of 600 to 700 meters, high enough for the nights to be pleas­antly cool even in summer and close enough to the Atlas for the peaks to domi­nate the hori­zon on a clear day. With an aver­age of 120 millime­tres of rain­fall per year, it is one of the driest regions around Marrakesh — less than a quar­ter of what the city itself receives. 

The first camp in Agafay was opened in 2003, and since 2010 tourism has really taken off and the former waste­land has been expe­ri­enc­ing unbro­ken inter­est from visi­tors ever since.

From Marrakesh, there are many ways to explore the desert at the foot of the Atlas Moun­tains: Day trips, dinner spec­ta­cles or overnight stays in one of the desert camps.

Agafay Desert: Dinner at sunset

There’s an old saying that you’re spoiled for choice. So it is with the choice of dinner options in Marrakesh. In addi­tion to historic restau­rants in charm­ing, time-honored court­yards with orange trees and palm trees, there are dreamy restau­rants on the rooftop terraces high above the medina. Compet­ing with them are the kitchens of the riads, where excel­lent menus are prepared in the tradi­tional way. The new town, on the other hand, offers a wide range of styl­ish restau­rants with cuisines from all over the world and in all price categories.

And yet it is worth look­ing beyond Marrakesh.

Just a few kilo­me­ters beyond the city limits, where people can no longer wrest olive and orange groves from the rocky ground, the stone desert of Agafay begins.

Agafay rises from the plain as a gentle hill­top, domi­nated by reddish-yellow rock and sand. 

During the day, the heat shim­mers over the stones and blurs the horizon.

Camp in the Agafay desert near Marrakesh.
You can also spend the night in the desert camps

The sunset here is a very special spec­ta­cle in its own right. I love the soft orange and purple hues that stretch across the endless sky until the moment when the first star twin­kles and the camp­fire is lit. It’s a great expe­ri­ence every time, differ­ent every time, because the sky dictates the script. 

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Day trips

An arrange­ment for a visit to Agafay is very easy to orga­nize. As in most riads and accom­mo­da­tions, our staff at Riad Selouane will be happy to arrange a book­ing at the desired camp. For a dinner with activ­i­ties such as camel rides, it is usually suffi­cient to book one or two days in advance.

In the city itself, there is an agency for all kinds of excur­sions in almost every alley­way. They can usually be recog­nized by colour­ful pictures of off-road vehi­cles, camel rides, quads or desert scenes. The excur­sions can always be booked includ­ing arrival and departure.

Some camps pick up guests in Marrakesh by bus and bring them back again. Here you should pay atten­tion to the pick-up loca­tion and time.

Payment is usually made imme­di­ately, drinks are charged at the end of the camp and must be paid before departure.

A private trans­fer via your riad has the advan­tage that the drivers will contact the riad, combined with the service of being accom­pa­nied to the pick-up point. 

Camels in the desert near Marrakesh, Morocco.

In addi­tion to cash, the camps also accept major credit cards — payment by app is not yet widely available.

The agen­cies in the city often offer inex­pen­sive pack­ages to the simple 2‑star camps, but the qual­ity of the camps and the food cannot keep up with the luxury camps. However, these prices include every­thing except drinks and, depend­ing on the offer, even the camel ride or quad biking.

A pack­age for 20 — 30€ per person includ­ing food, trans­fer and pool does­n’t have to be bad, but you should take a close look at the reviews of the camp on a review site such as Tripad­vi­sor before­hand. Unfor­tu­nately, condi­tions change quite quickly, so you should always obtain up-to-date information.

In the luxury 4‑star camps, the stan­dard is much higher, the qual­ity of the food better and the facil­i­ties more styl­ish. These camps can rarely be booked as a pack­age. You book directly with the camp, plus a private trans­fer and any activities.

Photo spot at Inara Camp near Marrakesh
Photo spot at Inara Camp

We partic­u­larly like the dinner at Inara Camp* and the camps La Pause and White Camel Lodge.

The prices are high, for a dinner you have to calcu­late over 50€ with­out drinks, but the atmos­phere in these camps is some­thing very special.

There are even private tents for hire for a roman­tic dinner* for two.

You can also visit all the camps during the day and have lunch there. After a camel ride or a quad bike ride, hang­ing out by the pool before head­ing back into town in the evening is also a great experience. 

There are many offers for a Day Pass with pool and lunch*. The styl­ish Inara Camp also offers a day pass with lunch*.

For an after­noon in Agafay, you should defi­nitely bring sun cream, sunglasses and headgear.

Another tip: many excur­sions combine the Agafay with a visit to an argan oil coop­er­a­tive. However, argan trees do not grow in the region around Marrakesh — they are native to the south­west of Morocco, between Essaouira and the Anti-Atlas. The nuts that are processed in these coop­er­a­tives come from there. So if you want to see the tradi­tional home of the argan tree, you are better off on the way to Essaouira than in the Agafay. 

Explore the Agafay Desert on your own

The Agafay Desert can also be reached with­out a booked tour — if you want to travel inde­pen­dently, you will find every­thing you need for a success­ful excur­sion on your own.

The easi­est way to get to the Agafay is by rental car or private driver. Agafay is located around 30 kilo­me­ters south­west of Marrakesh, the drive takes around 40 minutes depend­ing on traf­fic. The route leads towards Agafay (R212) and turns off onto an unnamed road to the south shortly before the village of the same name — well sign­posted and easy to drive, even for inex­pe­ri­enced drivers. 

We do not recom­mend taking a taxi, as there are no return options on site.

With­out a booked camp or program, the Agafay is initially an open stone desert — impres­sive, but little devel­oped. Most of the camps are private and only acces­si­ble to guests. If you are trav­el­ing on your own, you should be aware that it is hardly possi­ble to visit one of the camps with­out book­ing in advance.

Some camps offer day tick­ets or the option of using the facil­i­ties for a mini­mum fee — a good compro­mise between inde­pen­dence and comfort. Never­the­less, we would advise you to clar­ify this by tele­phone beforehand. 

Explor­ing the Agafay on your own can be partic­u­larly inter­est­ing for photog­ra­phers. The desert has no special view­points or corners that you absolutely have to see, it is fairly uniform and it mainly depends on the clouds as to whether the desert is photo­graph­i­cally inter­est­ing or not. 

Along the main road, there are several oppor­tu­ni­ties to rent quads or ride a camel. There are no sign­posted hiking trails or other infra­struc­ture that is not asso­ci­ated with a camp. 

It is impor­tant to know that there are no supply options outside the camps. Sun protec­tion, suffi­cient water and sturdy footwear are defi­nitely advis­able. Offline maps are also recommended. 

For trav­ellers who appre­ci­ate free­dom and spon­tane­ity, the Agafay on their own is defi­nitely appeal­ing — espe­cially for a quiet morn­ing or sunset away from orga­nized groups. However, if you want to get the best out of the Agafay — camp­fire, dinner, Bedouin tent atmos­phere — an orga­nized tour or evening excur­sion is often better and less stressful. 

Overnight stay under the starry sky of Agafay

In addi­tion to the restau­rant camps, numer­ous desert camps have been estab­lished in recent years that also offer overnight accom­mo­da­tion — from simple Berber tent accom­mo­da­tion to comfort­able glamp­ing lodges with their own pool.

The range is wide: some camps focus on authen­tic­ity and simplic­ity, others on luxury with four-poster beds, terraces and candle­light dinners. Some accom­mo­da­tion options are attached to the day camps, while the most luxu­ri­ous lodges are open exclu­sively for overnight guests. 

What they all have in common is their remote­ness, the sweep­ing view over the stony desert and — when the sky is clear — a starry sky that would be unthink­able in the city.

The program is almost the same as for the dinner camps: camel rides, quad biking, sunset, a tradi­tional Moroc­can dinner and camp­fire with or with­out a show.

But the morn­ing belongs to silence: break­fast at sunrise, before the first day trip­pers arrive, with a view of the barren hills and the High Atlas. Those who get up early enough have the desert almost to themselves. 

If you are think­ing about spend­ing the night in the Agafay Desert, you can book directly with the camps or via tour oper­a­tors in Marrakesh, e.g. at the fantas­tic Camp Terrasses d’Agafay*.

Early book­ing is recom­mended, espe­cially in the high season in Octo­ber and March/April.

In our opin­ion, an overnight stay in the Agafay Desert is only worth­while if you are not plan­ning a round trip through the coun­try. If you have already been to a sandy desert or the Sahara dunes are on your itin­er­ary, an evening trip to the Agafay will suffice. 

Even if you only have Marrakesh on the program and want to save your­self a hotel change, an overnight stay in the Agafay desert is not neces­sary, as the most beau­ti­ful part is the evening sunset — and you can also expe­ri­ence this on the half-day excursion.

Directions to the camp

An exact time and loca­tion will be spec­i­fied for pick-up by the orga­nizer. However, it is advis­able to ensure a pick-up time no later than three hours before sunset in Marrakesh. This leaves plenty of time in the camp to see every­thing before the light of the sun begins to enchant the landscape. 

The tour oper­a­tors usually have meet­ing points in the area around the Jemaa el Fna. The jour­ney is made in comfort­able and well-main­tained off-road vehi­cles or minibuses. The jour­ney takes around 40 minutes to an hour, depend­ing on traffic. 

You can conve­niently book a private driver through your hotel.

If the conver­sa­tions with the driver actu­ally run out of steam, which is actu­ally out of the ques­tion given the sheer endless base of stories and myths about Marrakesh, then sounds from the radio set the rhythm of the jour­ney. If you don’t like Berber music, we recom­mend the Moroc­can hit parade on Hit-Radio Marrakech. Often a copy of the hits known from their home­land — just in Arabic. 

Campfire in the luxury camp in the Agafay stone desert near Marrakesh.
Camp­fire in the luxury camp

With music blar­ing from the radio, the many construc­tion sites of the incred­i­bly fast-grow­ing city fly past to the left and right of the road. As bleak as the build­ing sites look, large adver­tis­ing signs announce what will soon be real­ized here as a new stan­dard of living. And despite all this progress, donkey carts, rick­ety bicy­cles and smok­ing mopeds with up to four people on them are part of the every­day street scene. Just like the olive and orange groves and euca­lyp­tus trees further out, outside the new build­ing areas. 

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Agafay desert camps: What to expect at camp

Arranged like a silhou­ette, the view sweeps to the ever higher moun­tain ranges of the foothills, which are bordered by the peaks of the High Atlas rising to over 4,000 meters. Until well into early summer, these peaks with their snow-covered slopes reflect the light of the sun burn­ing up on the west­ern hori­zon in a special way. 

To the north, the soft bare hill­tops of other hills can be seen, while to the west the sun seems to sink into the foothills of the Agafay cliffs.

White Camel Lodge in the Agafay Desert near Marrakesh.
The White Camel Lodge in the Agafay stone desert

During the day, the stone desert itself appears empty and barren at first glance.

The narrow asphalt road winds like a snake between the rocky hill­tops and leads seem­ingly to nowhere. Now and again, lonely sign­posts with bold names such as Scarabeo Camp, Canyon Lodge or Oxygen Camp Lodge appear out of this noth­ing­ness. If the eye follows the indi­cated direc­tion and the dusty track, the view is once again lost in noth­ing­ness. From time to time, plumes of dust on the hori­zon show that this road is actu­ally being used.

The appear­ance of deso­la­tion is decep­tive, as camps with surpris­ingly luxu­ri­ous facil­i­ties await visi­tors at the end of the dusty and seem­ingly endless slopes. 

Sunset at the White Camel Lodge in the Agafay desert near Marrakesh.
Infin­ity pool with a view of the sunset

Tents are lined up along the hill­top with the best views of the surround­ing coun­try­side, offer­ing every­thing from simple rooms to luxury rooms. 

Behind the tents, the clear water of a pool sparkles in the sunlight on a plateau, next to a panorama bar. A little further away and with a feel­ing for the beau­ti­ful view, there is a beau­ti­fully furnished tent for the evening dinner.

White Camel Lodge in the Agafay desert near Marrakesh.
Sundowner in the desert

I always find it a spec­tac­u­lar expe­ri­ence to sit by the pool and soak up the light, the wind and the magnif­i­cent scenery with a glass of wine.

Every second, the sun changes the colors in the sky and the surround­ing moun­tains from sun-bright to purple-red to the pale blue of the first foothills of the night.

The heat of the day gives way to the pleas­ant cool­ness of the night.

After the spec­tac­u­lar display of colors, you can enjoy a multi-course dinner with orig­i­nal Moroc­can dishes. 

As dark­ness falls, torches and fires are lit. The darker it gets, the more the camp trans­forms into a magi­cal African place, where shad­ows dance across the tent walls and strange sounds whirl in the air. As dark compan­ions, the moun­tains constantly watch over the hori­zon, while a breath­tak­ing starry sky stretches from left to right above our heads.

The silhou­ettes of the moun­tains disap­pear in the dark, but the lights of the Berber villages appear on the moun­tain flanks.

The evening ends sitting by one of the fires, the air carry­ing the sounds of drums and bells from a little further away. With a drink in your hand, friends and good company engrossed in conver­sa­tion, spanned by a sea of a thou­sand twin­kling stars — this is the final magic of the Agafay, a combi­na­tion of expe­ri­ence and Moroc­can magic.

An unfor­get­table memory. 

Activities in the desert camps

Many camps offer other activ­i­ties in addi­tion to dinner. 

In addi­tion to private dinners for two in your own tent, larger tents can be booked for groups through to event tents for entire parties and all occasions.

As a rule, day guests are also allowed to use the pool in the camps. It is there­fore advis­able to pack a towel and swimwear. Towels are only provided as a service in a few camps. Addi­tional charges may apply for use of the pool.

quad agafay marokko

Quad bike rides* through the Agafay with a view of the town of Marrakesh rest­ing on the plain are at the top of the list of daytime activ­i­ties, prefer­ably in combi­na­tion with lunch by the pool* or a dinner show*. Buggy rides are also offered.

Each camp also offers the option of short or extended camel rides*. The camels them­selves are extremely patient and gentle animals for the inex­pe­ri­enced rider.

Camel rides at sunset in the Desert d'Agafay near Marrakech.
Camel rides at sunset

Led by a guide, they walk over sand and stony ground with their soft, large hooves and great surefootedness. 

From the slightly sway­ing saddle, you get yet another view of the landscape.

Imag­ine trav­el­ing to Timbuktu in this way for 56 days…

In addition to the typical activities, there are also far more unusual offers:

What would it be like to play paint­ball in the desert? Or with the paraglider over the desert?*

Unfor­get­table pictures are created during a photo shoot with a flying dress in the Agafay*.

For the roman­tics, there is even the option of a Moroc­can wedding cere­mony* with henna deco­ra­tions and tradi­tional cloth­ing. Not offi­cially valid, of course, but still a beau­ti­ful idea to cele­brate love. 

For trav­el­ers who want to explore the Agafay on their own during the day, there are also guided quad tours that start at Lalla Takerk­oust Lake and lead through the desert to the camp zone — a differ­ent perspec­tive on the land­scape that opens up the route from north to south.

In the evening, the camps offer a vari­ety of spec­ta­cles from music and shows with riders and horses to fireworks.

However, as a musi­cian with rattles and drums gives at least one inter­lude at every dinner and the evening itself conveys so many impres­sions, you can enjoy Moroc­can culture in almost every camp.

The Agafay has a pronounced desert climate: as warm as it may be during the day, it can get very cold in the evening, espe­cially in the winter months. I’ve sat around the camp­fire shiv­er­ing all too often: a warm jacket against the night-time chill makes me feel more comfort­able after dinner as I gaze at the endless sea of stars. 

Looking for a hotel in Marrakesh?

Top loca­tion in the medina, break­fast included, an oasis of peace in the middle of the souks:
The Riad Selouane is the ideal address for your city trip!

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Riad Selouane Marrakesh: View into the courtyard and over the roofs to the Ben Youssef Mosque

Photography in the Agafay Desert: light, motifs and the best time of day

Ochre and grey domi­nate the color palette, the land­scape is barren and vast. The Agafay impresses with its reduc­tion, the light models the gentle hill­tops and draws long shadows. 

Great, graphic-look­ing shots are possi­ble here in the evening. The High Atlas is illu­mi­nated by the setting sun and makes for great land­scape photos. The warm light is also ideal for atmos­pheric portraits. 

agafay huegelketten

In flat midday light, on the other hand, the land­scape appears devoid of contrast — the best reason for photog­ra­phers to choose an evening excur­sion over a day trip.

The Agafay is partic­u­larly beau­ti­ful in winter and early spring. From Novem­ber, the first snow can fall in the High Atlas, and the contrast between the ochre-colored stone desert in the fore­ground and the bright white peaks behind it is unparalleled. 

Inci­den­tally, not all camps offer the same view. The White Camel Lodge, for exam­ple, has a beau­ti­ful sunset, as it offers a wide view to the west, but has no unob­structed view of the High Atlas, as its peaks are hidden behind the hills. Inara Camp, on the other hand, has a great view of the moun­tains as it is located quite far back in the Agafay. It is there­fore worth research­ing in advance which camp you would like to visit. 

The sky is a deci­sive factor for good pictures. A cloud­less sky does not neces­sar­ily guar­an­tee a beau­ti­ful sunset! 

In Janu­ary and Febru­ary, the sunsets are often glow­ing red and the air is clear, the snow-covered moun­tains hover­ing unre­al­is­ti­cally over the desert. Unfor­tu­nately, this is also the time of year when there is the great­est risk of catch­ing one of the few bad days. 

At other times of the year, a bright blue sky during the day can fade to a dull hue in the evening, or clouds can cover the moun­tains in the evening.

A scat­tered cloud cover, on the other hand, can create a dramatic atmos­phere: when indi­vid­ual clouds break the light, the desert is illu­mi­nated in several differ­ent ways within minutes, result­ing in color­ful sunsets.

agafay wueste feuershow

After dark, an incred­i­ble starry sky awaits visi­tors. The light pollu­tion in Agafay is quite low, so there are good oppor­tu­ni­ties for astrophotography. 

The fire show at the camp also offers great photo opportunities.

If you are trav­el­ing to Agafay specif­i­cally to take photos, you should take a look at the weather fore­cast before book­ing. In Marrakesh, there are often days that are very hazy — the Sahara sends sand over the moun­tains from time to time — and so all photo dreams in the Agafay are invalid. 

Food, drink and evening entertainment

A pepper­mint tea is usually served as a welcome to the camp. 

In addi­tion to local drinks and fresh juices, many camps also offer Moroc­can wines and a selec­tion of spir­its. Well-known brands are repre­sented among the soft drinks, for exam­ple tonic water. Beer usually comes from a can.

It usually starts with a soup, often a deli­cious harira.

Then there is a selec­tion of tagine, with lamb or chicken, refined with fruits such as dates and plums. It is served with couscous.

Camp and venue in the Agafay desert near Marrakesh.

The meals in the camps are divided into three or four courses, tradi­tion­ally Moroc­can, and are served in tents or on seated terraces in front of the tents, depend­ing on your pref­er­ence and the time of year. 

Finally, there is of course a dessert, here the options are very varied and depend on the cook­ing skills of the respec­tive kitchen. 

The food is usually accom­pa­nied by pleas­ant back­ground music from an often very rustic music system. The music is inter­spersed with a live perfor­mance between courses. Three or more musi­cians come from table to table with drums and bells and, in addi­tion to the rhythm and singing, make the pom-poms on their caps spin. It looks easier than it is, I fail every time — but you are welcome to try it out for yourself. 

As a typi­cal conclu­sion to the meal, a mint tea is offered again at the end of the meal with some dry cook­ies that are custom­ary in the country.

A small tip should be given to both the service in the camp and the driver if they were friendly and attentive. 

Return to the city

The drivers wait patiently at the entrance to the camp in their off-road vehi­cles or buses and are often over­whelmed by Euro­pean punc­tu­al­ity. The motto is: always take your time and enjoy the evening.

The return jour­ney through the dark­ness makes the route seem completely differ­ent. Lights in the desert indi­cate where there are more camps or where other off-road vehi­cles are on their way back to Marrakesh. 

From time to time, people walk along the road in the dark — their desti­na­tion seems completely unknown to the observer — there is only waste­land here! When you reach the R212, euca­lyp­tus trees line the road again and suddenly there is life on the road, even late at night. In the light of neon lamps, barbe­cue stands whiz past the window. Thick clouds of smoke rise from the hot barbe­cue fires into the dark­ness. Chil­dren run through the night, dogs watch the cars and cyclists perform some dare­devil maneuvers. 

For the drivers of the camps, this is an every­day occur­rence; they know the game as well as most of the passers-by. Every now and then people say hello or sound the horn. 

Many riads in the city are located directly in the medina, like the Riad Selouane. As most of the alley­ways are too narrow for cars, off-road vehi­cles or minibuses do not drive right up to the riad. So you still have to walk a little to get to the hotel. 

The streets and alley­ways of the medina are safe at night, with young men in partic­u­lar occa­sion­ally approach­ing the tourists. Here it is impor­tant to decline politely but firmly. 

More caution is needed for orien­ta­tion! As the traders have disman­tled all their stalls and cleared away the lavish displays of goods, every alley­way looks completely differ­ent at night than it does during the day.

Many riads there­fore consider it part of their service to pick up their guests person­ally after an evening out and accom­pany them directly to the riad. 

olive twig light brown

An evening in the Agafay Desert is a very special experience!

Frequently asked questions about the Agafay Desert

Here you will find answers to the most frequently asked ques­tions from our guests.

  1. How far is the Agafay Desert from Marrakesh?

    The Agafay Desert is located around 30 kilo­me­ters south­west of Marrakesh. The drive takes around 40 to 60 minutes, depend­ing on traf­fic. The road is in good condi­tion, but there are often gravel tracks to the camps themselves. 

  2. Is it possible to stay overnight in the Agafay Desert?

    Yes, several camps offer tents and lodges for overnight stays. However, if you want to expe­ri­ence an evening in the desert from Marrakesh with­out spend­ing the night, a half-day excur­sion with dinner is well advised. 

  3. When is the best time to visit the Agafay Desert?

    The most pleas­ant months are spring (March to May) and fall (Septem­ber to Novem­ber). Temper­a­tures are mild during the day and the nights are pleas­antly cool. In summer, it can be over 40°C during the day; in winter, the nights can be very cold — a warm jacket is a must. 

  4. How much does a trip to the Agafay Desert cost?

    Prices vary depend­ing on the offer and camp. Simple pack­ages with trans­fers, dinner and activ­i­ties start from around €20–30 per person. In the upscale 4‑star camps, you can expect to pay over €50 per person for dinner alone — but the atmos­phere and qual­ity is signif­i­cantly higher. 

  5. What activities are there in the Agafay Desert?

    Most camps offer camel rides, quad bike rides, use of the pool and a tradi­tional Moroc­can dinner with live music. There are also more unusual offers such as paraglid­ing over the desert, paint­ball or a roman­tic dinner in a private tent. 

  6. How do I organize an excursion to the Agafay Desert?

    The easi­est option is to book through your own hotel or riad — the manager will orga­nize the reser­va­tion at the desired camp as well as the trans­fer. Alter­na­tively, travel agen­cies in the city offer pack­ages that bundle trans­fers, dinner and activ­i­ties. Book­ing one or two days in advance is usually sufficient. 

  7. Can you explore the Agafay Desert on your own?

    Yes, with a rental car or private driver it is easy to get there. However, there is hardly any infra­struc­ture or supply options outside the camps. Most camps are only acces­si­ble to regis­tered guests — it is there­fore advis­able to contact them in advance. Suffi­cient water, sun protec­tion and sturdy shoes are essential. 

  8. What should you pack for an evening at Agafay?

    Even if the day was warm, the Agafay Desert cools down consid­er­ably in the evening, espe­cially in the winter months. A warm jacket is recom­mended. Also: sun cream and sunglasses for the day, a towel and swimwear for the pool and cash or credit card for drinks and tips. 

Looking for more information about Marrakesh?

Visit our travel guide to learn more about the sights of Marrakesh and Morocco!

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Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakesh
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